He's a highly trained Marine, a skilled and superbly equipped
fighter who just returned from the front lines with the U.S. forces
in Iraq.

Marine Lance Cpl. Daymond Geer stands with a Marine
Corps flag that hangs in front of his house in Victor. (Jerry R.
Tyson/News-Sentinel)

In combat he carries a M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, a hand-held
light machine gun he calls a "saw." He has faced enemy fire, and
has fired back.

Home on emergency leave to see his dying father, Geer, of
Victor, is one of very few soldiers so far to return from the front
lines who hasn't been wounded.

And even though he has fought in combat and seen men die, when
Geer's mom, Jane Geer, read in an Associated Press article in the
News-Sentinel on March 28 that her son was smoking cigarettes, she
wasn't happy and she let him know it.

"Well, now the whole world knows that you smoke, so you don't
have to hide it anymore," said Jane Geer, 44. "He told me that he
had quit."

Quality time with dad

Returning to his home town, the compact, clear-eyed 20-year-old
sat on a comfortable couch in the small home of his aunt, Sue
Rowley, on Friday and talked about his experiences In Iraq. He
displayed a small hot sauce bottle filled with pink Iraqi sand, and
a wax sealer he had taken from a dead Iraqi soldier.

Geer said he feels left out of the war because the men he calls
his brothers are still back there fighting.

"It feels a little weird to left out from what we started," he
said. "But it's good to be home to see my father, (Ron Geer) before
he gets to his final stages."

Stricken with a blood disorder, Geer's 76-year-old father's last
wish was to see his son before he died. Then his mother read in the
newspaper that Geer was actually coming home.

"I thought we would just get a phone call from him," she
said.

On the battlefield

Marine Lance Cpl. Daymond Geer of Victor prepares for
battle in this photograph taken in Kuwait prior to his unit taking
part in the war against Iraq. (Courtesy photo)

When American troops advanced north into Iraq from Kuwait, Geer
was assigned as aft gunner on his amphibian assault vehicle.

"I'm just a 'saw'-gunner laying down suppressive fire," Geer
said of his combat assignment.

As his platoon moved north, they met Iraqis coming south, most -
but not all - wanting to surrender.

"We got out on line, and there was a big old column of them
coming down the road, with no weapons, with their hands up," he
said. "They were giving up because we came in there with such a
force. I said, 'Hey, what about the enemy shooting at us?' But that
would come a little bit later."

For the first three days of the offensive, Geer's unit performed
searches of EPWs, as he called them.

"Enemy prisoner of war," he said. "The Army calls them
POWs."

His unit searched about 15 groups of prisoners a day.

They would search the prisoners for documents, weapons and
fragmentation grenades.

"They'd come at us like this," he said, raising his arms in the
traditional gesture of surrender. "And sometimes like this,"
bringing his arms down in front of him, as if holding a rifle.

"We would make an example of them, real bad," he said with the
tone and manner of a combat veteran.

When the other Iraqi soldiers saw effects of his unit's
firepower, they would usually surrender quickly, he said. He thinks
the Marines' appearance was also a factor.

"The suits we wear make us look like robots, and we act just
like robots," he said.

Geer and his unit wore bulky biochemical suits and flak jackets
at all times, he said. He would even wear his suit and gas mask
when he slept.

The first few days, there was a lot of surrendering, he said,
but they saw a few fire fights.

When his unit did take fire, it was usually brief, he said.

"There would be a 'pop pop,' and they would pop off a few rounds
and then run away," he said. "But they wouldn't run too far.
Usually we would stop them from running."

Every mile or so, the unit would either come across people
shooting or people surrendering.

"We would stop and take care of whatever the problem was, and
then we would move on," he said.

At the end of the day, the unit would stop and set up a
defensive perimeter around its camp, where they could eat, drink
some water and let their feet air out, he said.

For recreation, nicotine - cigarettes and chewing tobacco - was
popular, and they would play cards, he said.

Troops can reach home via e-mail - that is, when the unit's
first sergeant contacts headquarters, and delivers important e-mail
to the Marines in the field.

Geer also received a package from his high school, Liberty
Continuation High School in Lodi.

"It was really nice. We split up all the candy among the unit,"
he said.

They would sleep in or under their vehicles, or, in small
trenches on the side of the road dug for protection.

But they rarely slept for more than an hour at a time, and never
got more than four hours sleep in a night.

"We're up every night with our NVGs (night vision goggles), make
sure there are no black silhouettes," Geer said.

Sometimes they would see some goats, and would send out a fire
team patrol to make sure the camp was safe.

Enemy encounters

The unit's main concern was a special branch of the Iraqi
forces, the Iraqi Special Security, or ISS.

"They're the crazy ones, who usually strap bombs to their
chests," Geer said.

The unit's personal interaction with Iraqi troops and civilians
was very limited. He had learned a few basic phrases in Arabic:
Stop or I'll shoot. Lie down. Don't move.

The basic phrases, he said, the ones that count.

At one point they came upon a small convoy of five trucks
carrying civilians, including women and children. Though the trucks
were heading north, Geer's unit directed them to go south where it
would be safer, he said. His sergeant notified trailing U.S. troops
to expect the group, and to search them more thoroughly, he
said.

The civilians he saw seemed to be heading east into Iran, north
to Turkey and west to Syria - and all of them away from the
American advance, Geer said.

"They didn't know where we were, because we were
everywhere."

Losing a friend

Geer was also the first to come upon the body of Lance Cpl. Jose
Gutierrez, one of the first American casualties of the
conflict.

Geer got to know Gutierrez, who came from Los Angeles, in
Kuwait, where they had hung out. Gutierrez had even stayed in
Geer's room for two weeks. There, they talked, played games and
spent time together.

Geer took in a deep breath before starting the story of finding
his friend's body on the battlefield.

"My fire team leader sent me to see what a bunch of rubble was,
like a pile of gear sitting in the middle of the desert," he
said.

Geer went over and saw Gutierrez lying on his side, his face
half hidden. But he could see Gutierrez' name on the back of his
pack.

"I said 'Gutierrez, hey, dog, are you OK?' But I had heat
exhaustion or something, it didn't click to me," Geer said
quietly.

Geer called his staff sergeant over and told him that a Marine
was down.

"This is the hardest guy you can see," Geer said of his
sergeant. "He never gives an inch, and his face just dropped."

The sergeant took Gutierrez' arm and tried to move it. "You
could just hear it popping 'cause it was so tight," Geer said.

"He (Gutierrez) got shot three times in the back by friendly
fire," he said. "He was dead, and we Medivac'ed him out of
there."

Gutierrez had been shot about 30 minutes before Geer found
him.

"It was kind of weird, just seeing him lying there, just stiff."
Geer said. "I still remember the sight, too - his face and
everything."

A fellow Marine saw Gutierrez get shot, Geer said.

"He said, 'Hey there's an Iraqi running,' and just when I got up
there, the guy just fell," Geer said.

From that distance, about 150 meters, American troops looked
just like the Iraqis, he said.

Gutierrez had somehow been left behind by his platoon, Geer
said.

"He should never have been there," Geer said. "He should have
been with his platoon."

Keeping a close eye

Geer said he follows the events in the war constantly, on
television at friend's houses, or when he walks by a bank of TV
sets at a department store.

"I keep my eyes glued to it, to see if I can see my brothers out
there," he said, leaning forward and clasping his hands.

As he spoke, television war coverage murmured in the background.
His mother watches it more than he does, and she lets him know if
he's missed anything, Geer said.

On the way to Iraq, they played music. Geer said unit's favorite
was the song "Bodies," by Drowning Pool. The lyrics to the song's
final stanza are:

Skin
against skin, blood and bone

You're all by yourself, but you're not alone

You wanted in, now you're here

Driven by hate, consumed by fear

Let the bodies hit the floor.

Geer is dismissive of anti-war protests in the U.S. and around
the world.

"I think they're dumb," he said. "Seriously, they don't know
what they're protesting against. They don't read the newspapers and
they don't listen to Bush. We are liberating Iraq, freeing the
people, and they don't understand that. They're just a bunch of
tree-huggers."

A family affair

His mother said she has conflicting feelings about the choices
her son has made.

"It fluctuates between pride and fear and concern," she
said.

Although she knows he would like to be back with the Marines in
Iraq, neither of them knows what the situation will be when he is
ready to return, Jane Geer said.

He could be here on a 15- or 30-day leave, depending on his
father's condition.

She is thankful he has come this far and is still safe.

"A lot of mothers won't be able to hug their sons," she said.
"But he has a job to do."

As much as she is concerned about his safety in Iraq, she is
also worried about the man he will be when he returns, Jane Geer
said.

"I wonder how it will change him," she said. "He is sensitive,
and I hope he doesn't have to go back."

Geer said sometimes he was scared.

"You just have to know that God's on our side," he said. "I
believe we're doing the right thing. We take it that if it's your
time to go, it's your time to go, and let fate decide. That's how
we take it about dying."

Geer offered some words for parents whose sons and daughters are
serving in Iraq.

"Keep them in your prayers," he said. "Know that they are safe
with the soldiers and Marines that they are with, because they take
care of each other."

And then he added: "Keep your head up, and know that they will
be home shortly."